Research is an essential component of the pediatric nephrology fellowship.
A total of 23 months are devoted to research training (3 in the first year and 10 each in the 2nd and 3rd years). Research for pediatric and adult nephrology fellows is supported by the NIH-sponsored Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) Nephrology Training (T32) Grant (Dr. John Sedor, Director).
Pediatric nephrology fellows have the opportunity to receive their research training from a committed faculty consisting of 22 clinical or basic researchers who are actively studying a broad spectrum of kidney diseases. The mentors include 13 investigators in the adult or pediatric Divisions of Nephrology and 9 other clinical and basic scientists. This large pool of available research mentors is based in five departments at CWRU School of Medicine: Pediatrics, Medicine, Pathology, Physiology, and Epidemiology/Biostatistics.
In basic science research, specific areas of interest include polycystic kidney disease, tubular disorders and function, molecular basis of genetic diseases, podocyte biology, glomerular structure and disease, and small animal imaging of chronic kidney diseases.
In clinical research, investigators are conducting research in the areas of clinical transplantation, hypertension, genetic epidemiology, health outcomes/disparities and chronic kidney disease.